A-Z: General definitions: Malapropism

Definition

often referring to a character from the C18th play ‘The Rivals’ by Sheridan, where Mrs Malaprop constantly chooses a word which is not quite the one she intends. However, malapropsims were used well before then in drama: Shakespeare’s Elbow in Measure for Measure and Bottom in A MidsummerNight’s Dream betray their ignorance by choosing impressive-sounding words which sound similar to the one they want , but are in fact the wrong choice